Jan Vermeyen

This article is about the goldsmith. For the painter, see Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen .

The crown of Rudolf II by Jan Vermeyen

Jan Vermeyen (* before 1559 in Brussels , † before October 15, 1606 in Prague ) was a famous Flemish goldsmith , jeweler , medalist and wax boss of the Rudolphine mannerism .

Life

He was the son of the court painter Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen and learned in Antwerp . There he married in 1588. From 1590 he was enrolled in the goldsmith's guild in Frankfurt am Main . He probably moved to Prague in 1592, where from 1597 he worked as court and chamber goldsmith, jeweler, wax boss and medalist in Prague Castle for the Roman-German Emperor Rudolf II . He bought a house in Prague on the Lesser Town, in the St. Thomas parish district.

Works

Vermeyen created many gems and jewels for the emperor, especially his portrait made of diamonds in gold frames around 1600. In 1602 he made a new golden imperial crown with four relief scenes from the life of Rudolph II. This magnificent crown is adorned with 194 South American diamonds (the largest is 186 carats), further with emeralds, rubies, sea pearls and a huge sapphire on top. From 1804 to 1918 it was used as the Austrian imperial crown . Today the crown is exhibited in the secular treasury of the Hofburg in Vienna, along with other goldsmith and jewelery work from the Prague art chamber of Emperor Rudolph II.

He also made various table vessels from exotic natural materials (e.g. narwhal tooth, bezoar ) in golden frames. Vermeyen often worked with the Prague court stone cutter and glyptist Ottavio Miseroni , his workshop and court mill in Prague - Bubeneč and with the glyptist Alessandro Masnago in Milan . His figural ornaments and grotesques in brightly colored enamel are based on designs by Hertig van Bein . His medals are signed IOHAN FORMEI or H. FORMAID .

literature

• Prague around 1600 . Catalog of the exhibition, Essen / Vienna 1988, cat. Nos. 719 and 722.
• Dana Stehlíková: Encyclopedie českého zlatnictví, stříbrnictví a klenotnictví . Praha Libri 2003, ISBN 80-85983-90-7 , p. 526.